D.I.Y BABY POWDER — Josie Hearts

I wasn't going to do this post because I don't like to preach or scaremonger anyone, especially Mothers. I'm a generally "whatever floats your boat" kinda person but after getting such a positive reaction and a genuine interest on a recent Instagram post I decided I would do a little one! Hope you enjoy and find it helpful!

Let me start by saying, I used baby powder after every shower for as long as I can remember. My husband would occasionally drop into conversation about how toxic it was to which he was usually met with an enormous eye roll from me. I mean if it's safe enough for babies it can't be that bad, right?

Then when Tom was born, Shane made a stand and insisted that it wouldn't be used on him. He asked me just to look it up myself, so that I'd understand where he was coming from. Reluctantly I did but oh my God, I was horrified at what I found. Cases all over the world linking it to cervical cancer and other awful things. Lots of lawsuits won against some of the biggest brands in the world. How had I not heard of this before? How was this not common knowledge or ever on the news? I'm not going to link anything because I'm not an expert, I'm just going on my gut feeling about it but just have a look online.

We used Burts Bees talc free powder on Tom but it was discontinued last year and we were wondering what we'd use this time around. It struck me that the main ingredient in the Burts Bees one was cornflour so I went on Pinterest (you can find anything there) and searched for D.I.Y baby powders and WOW there are a lot of people making their own. I didn't feel like such a tree hugging hippie anymore!

The ingredients on all of them were pretty much the same. Kaolin Clay was used a lot as it's considered a really really fine powder but it's not as readily available in Ireland and I was too impatient too wait for an overseas delivery. Arrowroot is also noted for being a perfect talc substitute because of it's super fine and soft texture. So I decided to do a half and half mixture, so cornflour and Arrowroot Powder and a little essential oil.

INGREDIENTS

Cornflour

Arrowroot Powder

Lavender Oil

METHOD

It's literally a few steps...

Get a jar, put your cornflour and your arrowroot powder (half and half) in and shake it well.

Then add a couple of drops of whatever essential oil you want (you don't have to add any, it's just for the smell). Don't overdo it though, just 2 or 3 drops. A lot of ones online had a mixture of lavender and camomile, It sounds divine doesn't it? I couldn't get camomile on short notice so lavender solo may do! After adding the oil, shake really, really well for a few minutes.

You can get small mason jars on Amazon with lids like sieves which I'm going to order but in the meantime I've just been using the below. It's just some netting/chiffon. To make the powder come out of the jar in a really fine sprinkle, I put on 3 layers of netting and secured tightly with an elastic. I used a few of the clear ones from Penneys.

Then trim the edges and add some twine to purty it up!!!

I got these jars off my Aunt Laura! Thanks La!